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“I don’t know. I told her about Simon, and then she got her keys and she left.”
Jesus. I turned and ran for the kitchen. Grace’s voice followed me.
“Dad?”
“Stay here. Stay in the house,” I called back to her, and then I was running. I got in my truck. I blasted my horn as I went down the drive and the journalists and photographers got out of my way, fast. There was only one place she could have gone to. How much time did she have on me? Five minutes? Ten?
There were journalists at the Jordans’ house too. Not many. Two men, standing together beside a car, cups of coffee in hand. One of them was smoking. There was another car, parked off to the side, where a woman sat in the driver’s seat, on her phone. Maybe that’s how Lee convinced them to open the gate. Maybe she threatened to cause a scene if they didn’t let her in. Or maybe the gate was just open when she got there. However she’d done it, Lee’s little Hyundai was pulled up almost at the door to the house. I pulled my truck right in behind her and got out in a hurry. Lee was at the front door, talking to Rory.
“You tell him to stay away from our daughter,” Lee was saying. “Do you understand me? He needs to stay away.” She kept running her left hand through her hair, again and again.
Rory’s eyes met mine. He looked like shit. He hadn’t shaved and his eyes had deep black shadows.
“Andrew,” he said.
I joined Lee at the door. I took her hand. She didn’t look at me.
“Tell him to come up here,” she said to Rory. “I need to talk to him.”
Rory put his hand out and gripped the doorframe, blocking the way. “I can’t allow that. You seem upset. I don’t think now’s the right time.”
“I’m not upset,” Lee said. She widened her eyes in an unconvincing attempt to seem sincere. “Not at all.” She wasn’t well. I needed to get her to a doctor. We needed to get her help.
“Baby,” I said. “Come on, baby. Let’s go home. We need to go home to Grace.” I tried to lead her away from the door, but she didn’t move. Rory’s jaw clenched and his grip on the doorframe tightened. Jamie emerged from the corridor behind him. She was barefoot, and she walked like she was putting on a performance. Her toenails were painted scarlet. Leanne’s shoulders lifted as she took a deep breath.
“Jamie. Please. Please. I need to speak to Simon. He might know something that would help us find Nina, even if he doesn’t know it. If I could just speak to him for five minutes.”
Jamie came forward. She ducked under Rory’s arm, then leaned back so that the arm that had been holding the doorframe was now draped over her shoulders. She wrapped her right arm around his waist. The two of them stood there blocking the doorway like the defending team in Red Rover.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Jamie said, flatly. “You need to leave, now, or I’m going to call the police.”
I put my hand on Leanne’s shoulder. I wanted to lead her away. There was no way they would let us speak to Simon. We weren’t going to get anywhere with them. But Lee stepped forward and took hold of Jamie’s hand. Jamie looked horrified.
“I’m begging you,” Lee said. “Mother to mother. I know you understand that I... that we can’t survive unless we know what happened to Nina. Your son knows the truth. We... we won’t survive. Please, Jamie. Please. Please. Please.”
Lee swayed, and for a horrible moment I thought she was going to go down on her knees. A look spasmed over Rory Jordan’s face. Disgust and pity, mingled. Jamie shook off Lee’s hand. She stepped back into the house. Lee tried to follow her.
“Mother to mother. I’m asking you.”
Jamie’s face hardened into hostility. “You need to leave us alone. This is harassment. I’m calling the police. Add to the charges against you.”
Lee rocked back on her feet. I put my arm around her and pulled her away.
“Come on, baby.”
But she couldn’t walk. Her body folded in on itself, and she started to cry.
“Take her home,” Rory said. There was pity in his voice, and I hated him for it. Lee was leaning on me, weeping. I held her against me and looked at them and hated them.
“Simon hit Nina. Did you know about that? He left bruises on her body. That’s the kind of boy you raised. I hope you’re proud of yourself. Two hours ago he asked Grace to meet him in the woods. He tried to kiss her. She had to push him off. She’s fifteen years old.”
Rory didn’t react, not really, but Jamie flinched. It didn’t matter to me. I didn’t give a shit what they thought or felt or anything else.
“If he killed Nina, he’ll pay the price,” I said.
I didn’t know if that was true or not. I wanted to believe it, but we didn’t live in a world where bad people paid for what they did. I had to get Lee home. I tried to lead her away, but she was a dead weight. In the end I just picked her up and carried her to my truck. The journalists and photographers had crossed into the property. Camera flashes went off as I put Lee into the passenger seat. A female journalist asked if Lee was okay. I didn’t answer. I fastened Lee’s seat belt. She buried her head in her hands. We drove home. I parked the truck in the barn, and we sat there for a long time. Lee stopped crying. She leaned back in her seat and looked at me, right in the eye, for the first time since Grace had gone missing.
“I can’t live with never knowing,” she said. “It’s going to kill me.”
